Angry with a God We Limit

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people grumble about the way the world is today. Murder, rape, theft, lies, wrong lifestyles and thoughts. The list we (including me) goes on and on.

    “If God loves us so much then why does He let ‘this’ happen?”

    “If God is all powerful then why doesn’t He stop ‘this’ from taking place?”

    “If God really can still perform miracles, why are there so many going hungry, dying, homeless??”


If, if, if — all we do is doubt Him. Instead of questioning why God allows certain things to happen, we should be thanking Him for the gifts He has given us personally for the day we are currently in – one being that we are still ALIVE.

I decided to research this strange way we grumble to a God who loved us enough to send His ONLY Son, His ONLY child, to die the most horrible of all deaths to provide a way back to God. This is what I found.

Be Honest

First off, we have to be honest and say that each of us has at one point in our life, questioned why God did something or why He allowed something to happen. I know I have questioned Him MANY times – and once I had waited on HIS TIMING the answer came through crystal clear – not always the answer I wanted, but the answer that was needed to fulfill God’s will, which is always good and perfect.

This is how we should look at the way things are in our life.

When God created humans – male and female – He created them with a FREE WILL. In other words, He didn’t tell them what to do at every moment of every day. He let them walk about, talk with each other, play, rest and so on. He let them choose what they wanted to eat and when they wanted to eat it. God created the human race with a free will. This was His second act of love toward us. His first was that He created us, and created us in His image!

Imagine with me if you will a world where God is constantly saying, “Sheri, go and play the piano for me and when you are done that, I want you to go down the street and get Jane Doe for me. Once you have completed that task, you are to sit here and praise me for the remainder of the day.” No saying please, thank you, would you, could you or making it a request, but demanding I do all this. And then, if I didn’t complete all the tasks given me that day, that God would yell and holler at me and demean me, whip me and punish me for not completing my tasks.

That doesn’t sound like love to me; it sounds like bondage. If God were to force us to do whatever His whim and will would be, there would be no place for love. Love comes in because God gave us the gift of FREE WILL, FREE CHOICE, THE POWER TO CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO DO.

Now imagine with me a God who says, “Sheri, I’d really like you to play the piano for me today. I know you enjoy playing and I just love the way your heart soars to me when you do. We have such a time of wonderful fellowship. Could you do that for me today please? Thanks. I love you. God.”

Or imagine Him saying, “I am going to need you downtown today. You will have the opportunity to reach out to someone with my love and the Gospel which will set them free. I hope you take this opportunity and not only lift your spirit by preaching My gospel, but by trying to fill my Kingdom with more souls and defeating the devil in his wicked schemes. And don’t forget, I will be with you so do not be afraid – I am right there beside you, in you, and with you. Bless you My child.”

Now, which of the scenario’s above sounds more appealing to you? I know which ones I would go for!!!

We are Made in His Image

The Bible says God made humans in His image and when God created them male and female, He gave them the gift of having a free choice. They were able to choose to do whatever they wanted. They had but ONE rule. They could eat ANYTHING in the garden EXCEPT the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God said they would die if they ate from that tree. When He said die, He meant spiritually we would die.

The devil knowing that the couple had free will seduced them into sin. He told Eve that by eating the Forbidden fruit that she would not die, but would be wise and know things like God knows. So, as we know, she ate the apple and gave some to Adam. Suddenly, they felt shame – they were naked. They were afraid – they hid from God because of embarrassment of their nakedness. Most of us know the story – the serpent/devil was cursed to eat dust and slither on the ground for the rest of life, the woman would have severe pain when giving birth to a child and man would have to work VERY hard in order to make a home to live in, food to eat and so on.

God did not FORCE Adam and Eve to eat from the forbidden tree. He did not, however, prevent it either. That is the joy of free will. Even though God knew that by eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve would suffer greatly, He let them make their own choice. Their choice had consequences that we today still live with. Every choice we as humans make, has a consequence – scientists like to say that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. To some degree that is true. If we sin, we will be punished. We may not be killed or whipped, but we will lose some of our blessings that God had in store for us if we went along with His good and perfect will.

Having said all that, we can now approach the topics of why God allows things to happen.

Mistakes We Make

Our first mistake as humans is that we often look to/at people as/for examples in life. This is wrong. The Bible tells us we are not to look to other humans for answers or as examples. Exodus 23:2a says to not follow the crowd. Don’t do what the in crowd would do or what your neighbor would do. It is even a commandment: in Exodus 20:17, is says that, “You shall not covet.” {want anything that is your neighbors}

In Matthew chapter 6, we are told that we cannot serve two different gods. We will either serve/love the Lord our God by following Him exclusively, or we will follow the ways of man, paving our own pathway to destruction. The safest route is to follow the plan Jesus sets out before you each day you wake up. I’d rather know what I am supposed to do than to try and figure all that out on my own, only to end up at the bottom of a pit somewhere or where friends have turned against me because I wouldn’t do what they were doing. I honestly don’t want to reap the consequences of sinning. I reaped the consequences of my disobedience as a child from my parents – they were very loving, but had rules, and if those rules were broken, there were disciplinary actions that followed. Not very often did I go back and do that bit of disobedience again. And you know what – I love my parents for teaching me limits. It has taught me to respect all other humans, especially those in authority over me like the law, government and so on.

And when we sin, how often do we immediately take responsibility for it? Our first response is to say, “well, so and so said ‘this and that’ so I thought it would be okay,” or “when Jane Janey did it, she didn’t get into any trouble – in other words, she got away with it.” Just as Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed Eve, we don’t like to be caught in trouble so we try to place the blame on somebody else to make ourselves look not so bad in the light of the whole situation. This has been done since the beginning of time and will continue until God decides to rapture His children and chosen ones home with Him.

Regarding our decision to go ahead and sin, we will not get away with it. At first we might think things are going great, but eventually, it will catch up to us.

Proverbs 17:13 says, “If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house.

2 Timothy 3:2 says, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

In other words, if we follow the human example look what we will turn into!!! And there are those awful consequences we hate so much to look at.

So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you to help you. Deuteronomy 8:4-6 We may not know what the discipline entails, but in the long run it will all make sense. We can only see to the horizon, where God can see OVER the horizon and see the final outcome, and ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING HE DOES FOR US, HE DOES FOR OUR GOOD BECAUSE HE LOVES US.

Our Bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit

Also, when we choose to go our own way, we must stop and remember that our bodies are not our own. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It means that everything we do to, with and for our body, we also do to the Holy Spirit. We are God’s temple – 1 Corinthians 3:16. If therefore God dwells/lives within us, should we not respect our bodies and minds, what we say and what we do? If we get stupid drunk on alcohol, we harm the Holy Sprit Who is one part of the Triune God. And if we harm the Holy Sprit, we harm God as well. If we are promiscuous and sleep around with every other person we meet in a bar or on the street, etc., we are not only abusing our bodies, but the Spirit of God and all He stands for. So we not only have consequences on us, but also on God.

God would never have sex with another man or have paid sex with women, and He would not inject a foreign substance into His body to make Him feel high or mellow. He would never steal what He did not rightfully pay for. He would be happy for anyone who succeeds without being inwardly jealous of their success. God would take care of His body, make sure His mind thought pure thoughts, wouldn’t take part in any kind of evil. The Bible says if anyone desecrates God’s temple (our own bodies) that God will destroy that person. 1 Corinthians 3:17.

So to whom are we to look for as an example of how to live if not to each other? The Bible is clear as to whom we are to look to for an example as how to live and whom to follow. Man is not perfect and never will be because of the fall at the creation of Adam and Eve (Psalm 51:5). But God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Jesus encourages us to be perfect. And by saying that, He is not saying that we HAVE TO BE PERFECT in everything we do, but we are to strive to do what is right in any and all situations and circumstances. So, then, our focus, AT ALL TIMES, should be on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2-3) which says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the autho and pefecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

In the New Living Translation (my favourite version of the Bible) these verses read: We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.[a] He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven. Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don’t become weary and give up.

So then, it is clear that our focus should be Jesus, and Jesus alone. Man will always fail, but God will never fail. In the American Standard Version of the Bible in Deuteronomy 4:31 it says: for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

Why Are We Angry At God?

Why do we blame Him for all the bad things that happen in our own life as well as the rest of the world? He does not force us to do anything we don’t want to do. God is a gentleman – a Gentle Man. He will not force His way or will upon us at any given time, but will allow us to make our own decisions.

Now, from time to time, other people will make decisions that will adversely and harmfully affect our lives. But that is NOT God’s fault. The person who chose to harm another human being is the one at fault. S/He is the person to be angry at. If God were to control that person who did wrong, He would also have to control you EVEN if you were doing NO wrong!!!

Yes, God does ALLOW some things to happen, because out of trials and tribulations God can bring glory to His name and His Kingdom.

But we must also drill into our heads these few verses when we go through trials and tribulations or when somebody lets us down or does something illegal which makes your faith in God shaky:

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us–they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

So if somebody does us wrong, we can have hope because Romans 8:28 says that And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.?

How can we be angry at a God who gives us the choice to make our own decisions, leaving us knowing that the consequences of our actions are upon us? How can we be angry at a God who loves us despite our continual sinning? How can we be angry at a God who does not CAUSE the suffering in this world? How can we be angry at a God we do not allow in schools, governments and other public places? How can we be angry at a God we swear at, curse, use His name in vile terms and push and shove away from us? God cannot help us unless we allow Him into our lives, yet we keep pushing Him further and further away from us and then spout foul, angry curses at Him for allowing such suffering. Maybe it is time that we look at the real cause of the suffering in this world – our own actions!

Keep Your Eyes Focused on God, Not People.

God won’t fail you while humans most likely will. Which would you rather depend on – someone who lies, cheats, steals, kills, gossips and breaks your confidence and trust in them, or in someone, namely God, who will never fail, never lie, never end and never die? (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

We cannot let other people?s sins, failures, mistakes, opinions, ideas or attitude ruin the love God has for us. That is just what the devil wants us to do. We must walk on in faith, knowing that Jesus/God is always in control. Even when the world seems to be in great disaster, God is STILL in control. He will punish those who lead His children away from Him. He is a God of love, discipline, rules and great compassion for His people. And remember, God is slow to anger and His anger lasts only but for a day. How long do you stay angry?

Footnotes:
a. Hebrews 12:2 Or Jesus, the Originator and Perfecter of our faith.